The more things change
by Ohanzee Kage
Summary: This story is a Ranma/Akane pairing story, partially a life change story of them growing up, changes and any kind of silliness I decide to throw in. Currently rated T, I have a feeling it might turn dark at some point and I will have to increase the rating to M.. But for now... Enjoy :)
1. Things that need to change

Ranma 1/2 is copyrighted material belonging to Rumiko Takahashi. I make no claims, I am merely borrowing some ideas for entertainment.

This story is a Ranma/Akane pairing fic, I won't change that. I plan to have a lot of fun with this fic and so far am not completely sure which way it's headed.. yet.. But I can say there will be many crossover characters tossed in as I please. To add to my little disclaimer I own none of the characters I'll be using, as of yet.. I may make a character later on.. but we'll see when I get that far..

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><p>It was a dark, warm, summer evening in Nerima. The sun was mostly set, it's last remaining rays casting a warm orange glow through the city. In the backyard of the Tendo residence, Kasumi walked through the garden, tossed some bread crumbs into the koi pond, then walked over to the tree and gave the rest of the bread to an owl who had been perched there watching her intently. The owl took the bread and chewed on it gratefully, bobbing it's head seemingly in thanks, as she walked away. She smiled as she heard Ranma's loud yell in the dojo.<p>

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><p>Inside the dojo Ranma finished up a new set of kata's he'd learned. A month had passed since the wedding fiasco, in that time Ranma had withdrawn, and become far more serious. He'd stopped speaking to almost everybody the day after the fiasco. His mom and the Tendo sisters were the only exceptions. Nabiki had assisted him with finding videos of various different martial arts for him to study. She had gotten complete sets of several different styles, including; Wushu, Wing Chun, Shaolin and a few styles he'd never even heard of. Ranma walked over to the wall where a mahogany Mook Jong style wooden training dummy stood. He took a yellow towel off the dummy and started practicing on the dummy while going over schoolwork in his mind.<p>

In Kasumi he'd found a confidant, he opened up to her a few nights after the wedding, and ever since then their relationship had changed. He felt as though Kasumi was a sister in whom he could confide any secret. He'd even explained to her how he truly felt about Akane and his fiance problems. Every morning now, while everyone else was still asleep Ranma and Kasumi talked, she helped him start planning some of the life changes he'd been making.

Surprisingly, he'd found that her best suggestion yet, was when she'd suggested he actually try really hard in school. She'd even gone as far as to imply that a "man amongst men" as his mother preached about should also be well educated. Everyone aside from Kasumi had nearly choked to death on their breakfast the morning Ranma stood up and announced he was voluntarily taking summer classes. Her suggestion that he start studying with Akane had set off alarms in his head at first, but now, now he looked forward to it each night. He had an hour to spend with her completely hassle free, especially after the first few times of attempted spying had resulted in a boring spy session and Kasumi punishing the family by making them all smaller portions of food except for Ranma and Akane.

When Kasumi had suggested he continue giving the rest of his fiancees the cold shoulder, he'd taken her advice and even now was still ignoring all the rest of the fiancees and suitors. He'd spoken once in this time to Cologne, he'd told her straight out there was no chance he would ever marry Shampoo after what had happened. They'd spoken late into the night, and had come to an arrangement.

Ranma's hands moved faster and faster on the dummy, after finishing the set kata's he'd started doing his own routines, partial kata and mostly improvisation from the vast array of martial arts he had to pick from in his brain. Except his brain wasn't in the training at the moment, his hands and feet performed the movements perfectly from muscle memory. His mind was on Akane's smile from last night at a joke he'd made...

"Ranma!"

The shout shook him out of his concentration, his hand slick with sweat slipped on the dummy, and he started to fall, but caught himself and somersaulted to the door and found himself face to face with Akane wearing her yellow gi. As a familiar look of hesitation crossed Ranma's face Akane stomped her foot.

"You promised!"

Putting his hands up in surrender Ranma laughed, "Okay, okay, geez tomboy. Don't have a cow."

His face got serious. "I need to fully gauge your current skill level."

"You've seen me fight plenty of times!" she protested

"It's not the same, anyway to do this right I may have to spar with you for real. If I'm going to be your sensei, you're going to have to stop arguing with me during these lessons"

Hearing the change of tone in Ranma's voice Akane stood straighter, he was using the same tone her father used to use when he went into teaching mode. "Hai sensei!"

"First get warmed up, then I need you to go through every kata you know in entirety."

"But that could take hours.." As he raised his eyebrow at her she bowed her head, "Hai sensei."

Akane did a short warm up routine and moved through her kata's gracefully, until finally, two hours later she had finished. Sweat running down her face she took a few breaths to calm her heartbeat and looked at Ranma. For a moment she felt the intensity in his gaze, she could almost feel his longing for her, her heart started racing. Finally chalking it up to just being her imagination she stood straight up for a moment and bowed to Ranma, looking him in the eyes the entire time.

Ranma's mind was a whirlwind. He was trying to focus on the mistakes he needed to help Akane fix, but his mind kept wandering back to how beautiful she'd looked the entire time, how sexy she now looked with a light coating of sweat causing her gi to cling to her in all the right places. Finally as she bowed, he focused his mind on the soul of ice, calmed himself down and smiled at Akane.

In his mind he heard Kasumi's voice in his head warning him of how to be nicer with his criticisms with Akane. "_Always start with a compliment, us girls are suckers for compliments._"

"Nice form, very graceful for the most part.." He paused for a moment resisting his minds impulse to sneak in some snide remark or insulting name, "there's a few things we'll work on, but for the most part it looks good. You've got most of the basics down pat, you only need help with the last two kata's."

"Now," he said standing up and walking up to a wall where he had a bag "do you feel up to a short sparring session?" As he finished the question he reached into the bag and pulled out a set of padded gloves and foot pads.

She glared at the pads for a moment, her pride almost getting the best of her, but then she accepted and with a nod, stepped into a sparring stance.

Seeing the eager look on Akane's face Ranma put on the gloves and pads quickly and stepped out in his usual relaxed stance. Ranma nodded sharply at Akane to signal her to attack.

During the last few years Akane had been no slouch, sure the freaks that Ranma attracted were generally stronger than her, but they were insanely powerful for anyone. Of course if anyone had bothered to check thoroughly they'd have noticed Akane was slightly over Shampoo's level now. Ranma realized this from the moment she started attacking. She came in running, bringing her leg up as she closed the distance obviously going for a head kick. At the last possible second she seemingly changed her momentum and Ranma just narrowly avoided the kick that came from her other foot. As he'd been focused on her foot she'd twisted her body sideways, planting a hand on the floor and launching her opposite foot towards Ranma's ribs.

Ranma grinned now, his only regret in taking Akane on for training was that he hadn't done it sooner. He closed the distance again, this time going on the offensive, her eyes widened in momentary surprise as he caught her in the ribs with a fist, she doubled her body into the fist, absorbing the blow. In a very Ranma-ish move Akane grabbed Ranma's arm and flipped her legs over, bringing her foot down hard on Ranma's head.

But Ranma was too fast, catching her foot he threw her away from him and she rolled away, absorbing the fall before flipping back onto her feet.

"Enough" Ranma said, grinning at her.

"Good job tomboy, you surprised me."

"Really?" Akane asked, she was surprised he'd gone this long and not said anything mean about her martial arts.

"Really, now go inside and clean up. It's too late to study tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow. I'll clean up in here, you go rest. Goodnight."

Again Ranma had that tone of authority in his voice that made him hard to argue with. "Hai" With that she got up and went inside.

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><p>After Akane went inside Ranma started cleaning up the dojo, he looked up into the rafters and said, "You can come out now P-chan."<p>

With an indignant squeal the piglet launched himself at Ranma, who completely ignored him as he walked to his bag. Taking out a thermos the grabbed the piglet and stepped on it as he poured the contents of it onto the it. A naked, and angry, Ryoga lay pinned under Ranma's foot.

Get dressed first, Ranma said tossing Ryoga a white gi. Embarrassed Ryoga put it on.

"You jerk, I saw you! You hit her, now the truth is out, you piece of shit!" As he shouted this he grabbed Ranma and threw him. Or at least, he attempted to throw him.

Ranma twisted in midair and drove his elbow down sharply on top of Ryoga's head. Ryoga, dazed stared as three Ranma's walked up to him and started punching him rapidly, "Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken" his mind said, bringing his hands up in the usual defense he used against the move. There was something different about the move this time though.

Ranma turned his body, bending his knees towards each other, bringing a foot up to Ryoga's chest he kicked the lost boy against the wall and closed the distance. Ryoga's go-to defense for the chestnuts move played right into Ranma's adaptation of the Wing Chun chain punch.

Ryoga felt both his arms go numb as Ranma hit them on several different pressure points. Then Ranma's fists blurred out of sight with speed as he felt multiple solid impacts up and down his upper body and face, a sharp kick against his left inner thigh forced him to drop to his knees and Ranma's fist blurred into his face one final time.

Normally during their sparring sessions, Ranma held back to prevent himself from hurting the boy. This time he had held back just enough to prevent himself from killing him.

Ryoga's head bounced off the dojo wall and the lost boy collapsed in a heap, breathing raggedly, barely holding himself up as blood poured from his face. He coughed a couple times and spit out a little blood, finally he said. "You win Ranma, you've beaten me in our fight..."

Ranma finally spoke, "I'm sorry Ryoga. I wouldn't have beaten you so hard, but I know you'll recover in like a day or so. And frankly I've grown tired of the challenges."

Ryoga looked up at Ranma, amazed to hear him speaking so honestly.

Reaching back into his bag Ranma grabbed a change of clothes, "Got your backpack nearby? I think we should go to the public baths. If you're gonna stay the night we need to get you looking better than this."

At the baths both men spoke to each other candidly, Ryoga now with a new sense of respect for Ranma. Ryoga spoke to Ranma of his plans to marry Akari, adding that he already knew Ranma and Akane would end up together. Ranma didn't directly respond to that subtle inquiry. But his silence and lack of protest spoke volumes to the lost boy who knew Ranma for several years now.

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><p>They didn't make it back to the dojo till nearly three in the morning, Ranma told Ryoga to go ahead and set up his futon in the dojo. Finally Ranma went to his room and lay down on his own futon, he was asleep almost the instant his face hit the pillow.<p>

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><p>Despite being up so late, Ranma woke up at his now normal time, and looked out the window to see the sun rising casting it's gentle glow over the garden. Kasumi was in the back feeding the koi. An owl sat on a tree watching her intently till she came up to it and gave it a piece of bread, then Ranma watched as she set a bowl of milk down on the porch for the neighbors kitten that wandered over occasionally. Although he'd trained himself over the last month to be able to be near the kitten without freaking out, the mere thought of the word kitten still gave him chills.<p>

After brushing his teeth and washing his hands he walked into the backyard and began helping Kasumi hang clothes up to dry as they enjoyed each others company in silence for a few moments.

Ranma spoke first, "I saw Dr. Tofu a few days ago." He started smiling gently at her.

"And you're just now telling me?" she pouted cutely at him.

He laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Are you gonna go visit him?"

"Maybe," She paused apprehensively, "do you think he'll act silly again?"

"I think he's gotten himself under control, I think you should go for it."

With that said, Ranma hung up the last sheet from the basket and walked inside to shower and get ready to go to school.

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><p>Akane woke up with a sunbeam gently creeping up her face, her body felt sore. It had been a while since she worked so hard, she felt a small bruise forming where Ranma had hit her last night. But she was happy, very happy. Putting on her running clothes she left her room with a smile on her face.<p>

She went on her regular jog and altered it slightly by jumping on the fence occasionally. She didn't stay on like Ranma because she didn't have the confidence in her balance to run along the fence like he did yet. After she'd completed her route she did it again trying to increase her speed, and came back home after she'd built up a good sweat.

She came back just as Ranma was headed out the door to go to his summer schooling.

"Good morning"

"Good morning tomboy," He responded with a grin. "today I want you to practice on your balance, the same types of drills you do for gymnastics, I have the equipment already set up in the dojo. Ryoga is there if you need any help."

With that said Ranma took off for school running full tilt along the fence tops.


	2. Things that need to be said

Disclaimer: I still own nothing, Ranma is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and I'm just borrowing her world.

As a warning, I will get a little dark in some parts of the story, some of the characters may behave pretty OOC. In my opinion everyone changes, and frankly some of the things they'd gone through could change anyone.

Again this is a Ranma/Akane pairing story, if you don't like that pairing, go find another story.

Enjoy :)

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><p>Akane watched Ranma run off to school and smiled.<p>

She was very happy with the changes Ranma had made recently, the wedding fiasco had taken a lot out of her and she'd been very worried things would just go back to normal. When Ranma had started giving everyone the cold shoulder, except her and her sisters, Akane had been pleasantly surprised. Shampoo and Ukyo had asked her on occasion to speak to Ranma for them, and she had tried, but Ranma had made it clear he would only speak to them when he was ready and not a moment sooner.

Akane went into the dojo, Ryoga was going through a kata. She sat down and watched him until he was done, noting how bruised up his face looked and how he seemed to be moving slower than usual.

Finally noticing her he spoke "H.. Hey A.. Akane" with his usual nervousness.

"Hi Ryoga, Ranma said you would be willing to help me with some balance practice."

Ranma had set up a few sets of gymnastics bars, instead of being set up normally for a routine they were set up, some for walking on and some balanced precariously.

After they got started on training the nervousness left Ryoga and he helped her learn a variety of routines to practice her balance with the equipment.

As she trained her thoughts were on Ranma, he'd changed since they came back. It wasn't just the nice things he was doing either. He denied it when she'd asked, but she knew without a doubt now that he had said it and meant it.

"On this bar you'll need to bend your knees more deeply when you first get on. That's right, find your balance then straighten out. Good job Akane! You're doing better than I expected."

Akane smiled and after a minute of practicing her balance on the bar jumped down.

"Do you think I'm ready to start training to run on fence tops like Ranma?"

Ryoga eyed her critically for a moment, "Sure," he said "won't hurt to try."

"By the way, not to be rude, but what happened to your face?"

He looked embarrassed by the question, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "I asked Ranma to go all out with me last night, I lost." Ryoga smiled at her, "Now that that's out of the way, I feel like me and him can truly be friends."

Akane didn't say anything in response to that, just rolled her eyes. _Boys! _She thought, as she led Ryoga outside.

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><p>As Ranma was running home from school he was pleasantly surprised to see Akane jogging on top of the fence on the opposite side of the street. **Ring ring**<p>

_Shit_ Ranma thought _Shampoo!_

Ranma launched himself high into the air vaulting over the street and catching Akane, rolling away with her on the grass as the bike crashed into the spot she'd been occupying a moment earlier.

"You jerk!" She looked over at the fence and saw Shampoo dazedly picking herself up. "Oh, never mind," she corrected herself "she's the jerk!"

"Sorry Akane" Ranma said quickly picking her up and cradling her in his arms. "hold on tight." With that said he bounded up to the rooftops and started the route back home. After a moment Akane settled into his arms with a sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck. With her head on his chest she heard a noticeable change in his heart rate the instant she did it, and she smiled to herself.

Within a few minutes they'd made it back to the Tendo household.

"I'm going to the Nekohanten." Ranma said setting her down.

Akane's face reddened, "You wan't to go back to _her_?" she said her anger rising.

"It's not like that" Ranma said backpedaling, "I want to talk to Cologne to see if there's any way else around their.. laws."

After calming herself down she thought about that, "That sounds like a good idea," she said apprehensively "but I want to go with you!"

After arguing that point for a few minutes they finally walked off towards the Nekohanten together. Akane almost considered grabbing Ranma's hand, but figured he might not be ready for that yet. In fact, she wasn't quite sure if _she_ was ready for that step yet.

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><p>"Good day Ranma and Akane" Cologne greeted them when they walked into the Cat Cafe.<p>

"Good day elder." Ranma replied respectfully.

A couple of facts didn't miss Akane, the first, Cologne didn't call Ranma son-in-law. The second, Ranma was being respectful, even calling her elder.

Noticing the confused look on Akane's face Cologne spoke up "Ranma spoke to me a few weeks ago, and we may have found a solution, Shampoo won't be happy. But she won't have much say in the matter."

Cologne hopped into a back room on her staff and came out a moment later holding some scrolls in her hand. "My pursuit of Ranma all this time wasn't simply motivated by my granddaughter's love life. Besides, it's obvious to me he will never love her as she wants him to, and that would cause her far far more pain in the end." She said laying down the scrolls, "Ranma is very powerful, and will be a huge asset to our village if there ever again arises trouble with the Musk. "His potential is limitless."

She looked critically at Akane "I've been watching you too. Akane you've grown so much stronger since I first arrived, I never would have thought it when I first arrived, but after knowing you I think you have a lot of potential as well."

Setting down the last scroll on the table she unrolled it. "This, is a spell which will allow me to adopt you both as official members of Joketsuzoku tribe. It's a long ritual. If we start now we'll be done by morning time. And it will need the sacrifice of some blood." Seeing their apprehensive looks she drove on before their foolish looks had a chance to turn into foolish questions "There will be many benefits for you as well. By being adopted your family automatically gains the protection of our tribe, and you are permitted to train in our magic and martial arts. I can reveal secrets to you that I am not even allowed to mention now."

She laid the scroll down in front of them, the words were in Mandarin, magically they rearranged themselves into perfect Japanese.

"Read this over, I don't demand you decide tonight, but the quicker you can decide the smoother things will go. Shampoo is leaving on a boat for China tonight for two weeks to visit with her mother."

"I'll do it" Ranma said standing up "this idea feels.. right"

"Me too." Akane said, although not as enthusiastically.

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><p>After making a quick call to the Tendo residence they'd started the ritual. Cologne had been right, it took nearly till morning to finish the ritual. The walked back and both stomped into their respective rooms and promptly fell asleep.<p>

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><p>As a part of their agreement, they now had to go to the Cat Cafe to train with Elder Cologne twice a week. Cologne added workouts to both Ranma and Akane's daily routines and started training them in kata's known only to her village. Ranma recognized a lot of the moves now, since the style was very like Shaolin. That is to say, it seemed similar to Shaolin, on the surface. There was a subtlety to the style that Shaolin didn't have, something that made the result that much more effective. Genma still sparred with Ranma sometimes, but for his own sake to stay somewhat in shape.<p>

Now that Ranma had decided to take school seriously he viewed it at a challenge, and defeating challenges is what Ranma Saotome excels at.

Ranma's nightly training with Akane was paying off in various ways, first off Akane's skill had made enormous leaps. Ranma felt that at this point she could probably handle both Ukyo and Shampoo at the same time, and maybe even give Mousse some trouble. He was also rarely getting splashed with cold water anymore. He chalked it up to the fact that at the moment he just didn't give a shit about the curse one way or another. Finally Akane gathered her nerve one night and asked a question that had nagged at her for some time now.

"Ranma?"

He turned to look at her.

"What changed things?" She saw him look change to a confused one, "Not that I'm complaining, but I'm curious what changed things? Why are you more focused on school now? You're not mean to me anymore, and you've helped me learn so much!"

He stared at her for a moment, and she felt cheek start rising to her cheeks before he finally answered.

"You."

"What about me?" She said motioning to herself "While I've enjoyed the changes, _I_ haven't asked you to change a thing."

He turned away from her and sat down.

"You died."

She started to reply but he cut her off "You died in my arms Akane, I held your limp, lifeless body in my arms. It felt like my whole world had ended..."

He wiped away some tears, and started laughing. To her ears the laugh sounded forced, and very nervous.

"Then I lied to you." He looked up at her, his face showing his shame.

"You, agreed to go with our parents crazy little scheme, and you asked me i lllove y y you. I said that I never said that. But I lied, I did say it."

His voice had been barely audible at this confession.

"Oh Ranma, you baka!"

Ranma looked up at her, his face clearly showing his deep-rooted fear of rejection.

"I love you too dummy!" With this she kissed him. It was a sloppy, tear filled first kiss. But they both felt like they were floating on clouds when they walked inside to go get cleaned up after the workout.

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><p>They came to an unspoken agreement, neither of them was willing to go public with their new views on the relationship. After the wedding fiasco both knew they had to get rid of all entanglements before announcing anything that would draw in the would-be-suitors.<p>

As angry as Ranma was with Shampoo, he was twice as furious towards Ukyo. Shampoo at least brought up in such a way where her behavior hadn't seemed as wild to her. The village thrived on a warrior mentality, targets were for eliminating. Ranma knew now that it would soon be made abundantly clear to Shampoo that Akane was no longer an acceptable target. If she still was foggy on what that meant, Ranma would be happy to clear up any misunderstandings. He proudly acknowledged that Akane could and would be the one to do so if it came to that.

Ukyo was another matter altogether. The only reason he'd never told Ukyo he didn't love her was because he did love her. Now that he understood that love and understood his feelings for Nabiki and Kasumi he realized he'd always cherished Ukyo as if she was a sister. So he'd never been able to bring himself to break her heart like that. But she'd crossed the line, her actions at his wedding had shown him that she had no respect for his decisions. She only cared about her own happiness. Although he realized it was partially his own fault for not telling her how he'd felt before, she still acted on her own accord to do what she did.

When he left school that day he hadn't planned to go to Ukyo's, but that's where he found himself. Standing in front of Ucchans Okinomiyaki, not looking forward to the conversation he was about to have.

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><p>The only customers were a few kids from school, among them were Diasuke and Yuka.<p>

Ranma looked at them, "You two, stay put please. Everyone else get out!"

The other students having seen enough of Ranma's fights knew better than to protest and stood up and quietly left the restaurant. Each leaving a tip on the table, they felt sorry for Ukyo after seeing the look on Ranma's face. Ranma nodded in gratitude to each one as they left the restaurant. As the final customer was leaving Ukyo came out of the back.

"Where's everyone going, oh Ranchan!"

"What can I get you hun?" Ukyo said, trying to calm her nervousness by routinely making Ranma his favorite Okinomiyaki.

"Stop Ukyo." Ranma said, giving her a hard look "Sit down, we have a lot to talk about. That is to say, I'm going to talk, you are going to sit down, shut up and listen."

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><p>An hour later Ranma had told Ukyo everything he wanted to say to her, while avoiding the fact that he'd completely given his heart to Akane.<p>

"... I saw you as as sister, and I still do Ukyo. But after the wedding I see you're too wrapped up in your quest to tie me down as your husband to respect me or my decisions! Until you are willing to apologize to my family, the Tendo's and to Akane, we cannot be friends anymore. I hope you bring yourself to do so soon, I'd love to have my sister back." Ranma then stood up and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Ukyo behind sobbing into her hands as Diasuke and Yuka attempted to comfort her.

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><p>That's the end of Chapter 2.. Haha, can't promise the chapters will continue coming out so quick.. I expect my next update to be in a couple days.. but I guess I just felt like writing a lot today. Please R&amp;R. Thank you!<p> 


	3. Enlightened Darkness

Disclaimer: I still own nothing and I am still not making any profit off of this. Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma :)

Starting with this chapter I'm going to start making all my chapters from here on out longer. Oh and reviews motivate me :)

And many thanks to Richard and LadyScience. I know I started pretty fast and skimmed over a few things, some of that was intentional and I might go add in some elements later on. Right now I wanted to get more to the point instead of dwelling on subjects tons of other authors have already lingered on in the past. Again thanks a lot for the reviews, I appreciate the kind words. I plan on longer chapters from here on out, and I plan to go more into detail on everything happening now that I've figured out more or less where I want this story to go.

There will be many crossovers mixed with this story later on, I have already been hinting at future crossovers, but I've been trying to be subtle about it so hopefully everyone will understand the hints when I get that far. As a warning, I know many other authors have already done it. I'm not trying to steal their thunder... But it makes sense to me to have Nodoka be a Himura, Ranko has bright ass red hair and she's Japanese. I can't think of many other bloodlines that would pass along that particular trait.. I might be able to work on expanding that and finding out the Himura ancestry... Anyway, enjoy :)

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><p>Chapter 3 Enlightened Darkness<p>

Ranma and Akane sat in front of Cologne in lotus position. Neither of them moved or spoke, they'd been that way for two hours now, eyes closed trying to find their centers. Both teens could manipulate Ki, but this was different type of training. Cologne was teaching them how to communicate with their inner Ki, she had explained when they figured this out it would increase their awareness of their surroundings. And enable them to manipulate the Ki to power specific body parts. She had explained to them that this was a far more difficult way to learn techniques like Ryoga's 'Breaking Point'.

Surprisingly Akane was the first one to reach it, well it was surprising to everyone else, Akane had started meditative training several months back out of a desire to stop pounding Ranma every time something provoked her. Inside herself Akane found a light, she focused on it, pouring all her emotions into it and watched it expand. Cologne had explained that fueling it with emotion would cause it to expand, making it easier to find her center, and with the help of her Ki, easier to control said emotions.

Just a few minutes later Ranma found it and did the same thing, pouring his emotions into his Ki, and letting it grow. Cologne smiled, with pride, at the talent of the two teens in front of her as they both started emitting a soft glow.

"Good job you two, now open your eyes."

The did, "Now speak with your Ki, it doesn't need to be aloud, the same way you were just communicating with it just now. Good, now both of you focus your energies and ask the Ki to flow into your hands."

Ranma's hand started emitting a soft green glow, while Akane's took on a purple glow. Both teens were now sweating profusely from the high level of concentration this took. She set three pebbles in front of each of them.

"I want you to focus your Ki, take the white pebble in your hands and use your Ki to crush it, don't crush it with your hands.. just cradle it and ask your Ki to crush it."

It took about twenty minutes, but they both finally crushed the pebbles. Colognes eyes widened slightly surprised they'd made it this far tonight. "Now take the black pebble. I want you to use your Ki to make it levitate."

An hour later she told them to stop, neither had accomplished the feat yet. "Don't be frustrated," She said looking at their dejected faces, "even crushing the pebbles takes about 3 years for a normal person."

They both brightened a bit at this.

"Elder Cologne," Ranma started, "I would like to go on a training trip. To get the Hell away from Nerima for a while, we have one month left till school starts again, and I want to train night and day and get Akane close to my level." he said glancing at Akane out of the side of his eyes as he finished the sentence.

"This is acceptable," She replied "I have a perfect place in mind. Would you care horribly if I choose to tag along?"

Ranma was relieved she had suggested it "I would be honored to have your guidance elder." he said formally, remembering the expected respect to elders within the tribe.

"We leave in three days, go make your preparations and tell your family."

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><p>"I'll talk to Nabiki to make sure she doesn't spill the beans." Akane said as they walked home, both were now walking along the fence tops. Akane wearing a new gi. This one was more similar to what Ranma wore, except her's was in Tai Chi fashion, still yellow with a black sash around the middle.<p>

"Good idea."

Ranma turned around in mid stride, now running backwards along the top of the fence, and eyed Akane critically till she felt a blush rising up her cheeks.

"Ready for the next level?"

She wasn't expecting the question "What do you mean?"

Coming to the end of the fence, Akane was about to warn him, but at the last moment he launched himself high into the air, landing first on a telephone pole and bounding off of it to land on a rooftop.

"C'mon tomboy! Race you home! Bet you're too clumsy to even make it up here! Nyah!" He said as he made a silly face at her, sticking out his tongue and waggling his fingers.

Trying not to think about it she tried to do the same thing as Ranma, she didn't do it as gracefully, but was soon standing next to him and bopped him on the head with her fist. "Jerk."

He smiled at her, "Good job, now follow me." With that he started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Akane had a difficult time of it at first. But after the first few rooftops she got the hang of it and was running along next to him, both of them laughing at the freedom the activity made them feel.

* * *

><p>Ryoga was lost, again. The odd part for him was that he found himself absolutely not caring. Perhaps because he had no place he felt he needed to be at the moment. A part of him wanted to go check on Akari, but he wasn't completely sure he was ready to go take care of a bunch of pigs just yet. It felt somehow.. awkward.<p>

Finally he pulled himself out of his mind and took stock of his surroundings. He'd never seen this place before. He was standing at the edge of a forest, behind him was nothing but pine trees for miles and miles. In front of him, maybe half a mile, was the ocean, stretching into the horizon, the setting sun giving it a deep amber glow. At the edge of the beach was a dock, a man and woman were loading things onto trawler. In English the name Natsilane was written in black letters.

To his right was a sign that said "Astoria 20m".

He sighed,_ I'm in America... _ _at least I can read English_, he thought to himself. _But what the Hell do I do now?_

"Ranma this is all your.." his shout trailed off as he realized that this was in fact, NOT Ranma's fault.

His shout did have the added effect of drawing in the couple from the boat, he hadn't even realized it, but he'd continued walking and was now close to said boat.

"Hi", the man said walking up and sticking out his hand with a friendly smile on his face, "I'm Jesse, this is my wife Nadine."

"Hi." said Nadine, waving at him with a friendly smile.

"H.. Hello, I am R.. Ryoga." he was a little nervous "It is great pleasure to meet you. How I get to Japan from here?"

The couple looked at each other and raised their eyebrows, surprised to say the least, the way he said it you'd think he was asking directions to a park. They shrugged at each other and both pointed towards the ocean.

"Damn, that what I though. How the Hell I end up in America?!"

Jesse spoke again, "Help us load up, by an odd coincidence, we happen to be headed to Japan. Nadine, can you go get Elvis so we can introduce him to our new guest?"

Jesse pointed to the boat as Nadine went back on board. "If you noticed, our trawler is bigger than most. It takes a lot of work, and I had it custom built to be able to travel the oceans. You know anything about marine wildlife?"

Ryoga shook his head as he followed this strange American aboard his ship.

* * *

><p>Kuno sat in his room staring at his katana where it was hanging on his wall. Gone were the pictures of Akane and his pig tailed goddess, he now had a new woman whom his mind obsessed over. It wasn't the same though, he didn't desire her for companionship. No, in her he saw a master. Someone to train him to be the samurai he needed to be. There was a darkness, some evil force creeping up on Nerima. The very forces of evil were soon going to be unleashed, he felt it in his very soul, and Nerima would need heroes.<p>

That woman had revealed the truth to him, that his beloved pig tailed goddess, and the foul sorcerer Ranma Saotome, were indeed one in the same. He sighed again as the full impact of that revelation again hit him, as well as the revelation that he was not in fact in love with Akane Tendo. For some reason, when the woman explained everything to him on that night, it was like a light bulb turned on in his brain.

Everything now made sense, he'd been delusional. The reason he'd tricked himself into believing he was in love with Akane was because he was actually in love with Nabiki. When he'd finally admitted this to himself it was like a cloth had been removed from his eyes and he could see the world clearly now. In his mind he could now see Ranma transforming when splashed with cold water, and retaking his own form when splashed with warm water. And it made sense, the pig, the duck, the panda, the cat, and that freaky yeti holding eel thing.

Kuno laughed at the absurdity of it all.

He'd had to have his sister committed. He'd tried to explain everything to her, patiently, slowly. He'd destroyed all her potions and drugs, she'd made more and one night he caught her late at night making some strange drug and laughing her crazy laugh the whole time.

The next day he had her committed.

He sighed, at least Nabiki was the bright light in the darkness that enveloped him. He'd been speaking with her, calling her, meeting up with her, and secretly, dating her.

But right now he thought, focusing again. I need to see that woman again.

Flashback**

A week after the wedding a woman had shown up at his house, at first he didn't recognize her, then he realized it was Ranma's mother wearing traditional Kendo garb. She was wearing her katana at her waist.

"How can I help you?" he answered

"We need to talk," she said pushing her way past him, "now."

He saw challenge in her eyes.

"You dare, to challenge the great blue thunder of Furinkan high, in his own home? No wonder Saotome is such a villainous fiend, to be raised with such lowly manners!"

She stared at him for a moment, then she slapped him.

When he recovered he realized she was walking away, towards his families dojo. Head ringing from the force of her slap, he followed her.

When he stepped into the room she was standing in the middle in a relaxed posture.

"A samurai." she said, then spit on the floor of the dojo as offensively as possible. "No true samurai would act as cowardly, arrogant, and dishonorably as you have."

He'd walked into the center of the dojo now and she was circling him as she talked. A moment later she tossed a sheathed katana to him.

"If you are true samurai, then fight me!" She yelled running at him.

Before he could react she'd punched him, knocking him back several feet.

_Damn can that woman punch! She truly is the mother of that villainous fiend!_

"Pathetic, worthless, I should kill you right now. Then burn down your home with everyone still in it."

Kuno looked up, her face looked serious, he hadn't wanted to hurt her. Now this peasant woman who had dared intrude on his property so rudely had just threatened to kill him, and his family. She would have to die.

"You will find, peasant, that the great Tatewaki Kuno is not a foe to be taken lightly!" as he said this he charged, drawing his sword to cut her at the last moment as he'd seen in movies. The sword slashed through her body easily as if she weren't even there. His eyes widened as he realized she really wasn't there, "Up here!" she yelled, and he looked up just in time for the scabbard of her sword to collide with his nose, breaking it and causing blood to gush out of it.

He held his nose for a moment, glaring at her and blinking the tears out of his eyes.

"Futhin bith!" He shouted, letting go of his nose he charged in again, this time thrusting his sword forwardly repeatedly in very fast succession.

The woman seemed to know where his strikes would be before he even struck, even when he changed his pattern she just flowed right along with his movements. Finally, he used his strongest thrust move and shoved his sword through her chest. Again it went through as if she wasn't... there.

**?!**

She'd sidestepped, and in her sidestep she'd used the force to spin her body around, drawing her sword as she did so, the strike hitting Kuno squarely in the back of the head. Kuno felt a blunt impact on the back of his head and his world faded into blackness as she shouted "Hiten Mitsurugi style Ryukansen!"

**End Flashback

When he'd awoken she had made tea, then proceeded to speak with him, to great length and in excruciating detail. She explained everything, and had, not only pictures, but video.

He needed to meet that woman again. Nodoka Saotome.

* * *

><p>When they got home Akane got a phone call right away from Yuka, Ranma took a bath, then went to his favorite spot.<p>

Ranma stared at the stars and thought about how far Akane had progressed. She was becoming more and more amazing every day, he couldn't wait till she was his equal in skill. He felt that together, there was nothing they couldn't learn. _Hell, _he thought with a smile, _she even taught me how to do math!_

He felt Akane's Ki a moment before she joined him on the roof, when he turned to greet her she wrapped him in a hug pulling herself up snugly against him, her head on his chest.

"Thank you." She said and then kissed him chastely on the lips.

He raised an eyebrow in question at her, "Yuka told me about Ucchans, thank you. I can't imagine how tough that was. I know that you love Ukyo."

"As a sister" Ranma said.

"I know," Akane said, "I can understand why, you've known each other for a long time now. Will you be friends again?"

He sighed, "I don't know s.. sweetie," he said, nervously trying the endearment, "I hope so."

Changing the topic she said, "Diasuke and Yuka are dating now."

"That's good, I think they'll do well together." He replied, resting his chin on top of her head.

They stood like that, on the Tendo rooftop, holding each other and watching the stars. They saw a few shooting stars as they stood there, silent, just enjoying the closeness and presence of one another. When they finally parted to go to their respective rooms, they shared one more kiss, although this one was much deeper and more meaningful.

* * *

><p>WARNING, the next part gets dark for a moment.<p>

* * *

><p>A shadow was creeping over Tokyo, drawing ever nearer to Nerima.<p>

Under the Akihabara quarter of the Tokyo shopping district there was a large cavernous vault. Twelve people in dark hooded cloaks stood in a semi-circle around a large stone table, on top of which lay a young, scared looking girl.

Another figure wearing a pitch black cloak emerged from a room in the back, holding a large ritual book and a fancy looking ritual knife.

The girl started struggling against her bonds, tears streaming from her eyes, trying to scream through the gag in her mouth, with no success.

A deep voice came from the figure with holding the knife and book.

"Before us lies the descendant of Taira no Kiyomori. It is with her blood sacrifice, that we will restore Japan to the days of glory. The days of the samurai will rise again! When it is us, those who know what it's like to kill, and use any means necessary, who will be in charge."

With a vicious yank he tore the gag from the girls mouth who immediately started wailing in a high pitched voice as the rest of the cloaked figures started chanting an incantation.

As they chanted the man with the knife and sword paced around the table, when the chanting would pause he would read lines from the book. She could see that all the shadows in the room seemed to be drawing towards one another. The lights started flickering and the man lit the candles positioned around the room. The chanting increased speed and he slashed the knife across her belly, she screamed as loud as she could, but was ignored the chanting continuing. The man kept slashing her body and she kept screaming each time, but her strength was draining as the blood flowed out of her wounds. The table was now almost completely red, the blood forming into a pool on the floor which the shadows seemed to be drawn towards.

After what seemed like an eternity of him slashing at different body parts he was standing above her, looking her in the eyes, the last thing she saw was him lowering the blade to slash her throat open.

* * *

><p>Warning over<p>

* * *

><p>Shampoo sat in her mothers tent in deep thought, the most recent missive she'd received from her grandmother had sent her into a rage. That had been a week ago, she'd tried to run off back to Tokyo, but Lin Lin and Lun Lun had caught her and brought her back. They'd gone through a lot of training after the Saffron incident and were now a couple of the best warriors in the village, regardless of their ages.<p>

Now she had had time to think about everything, she'd come to a reluctant acceptance of defeat. Surprisingly as soon as she conceded defeat to herself it was pretty easy to get over Ranma. When she thought about it she realized that marrying Ranma would eventually make both Ranma and her.. miserable.

It was a bitter pill to swallow to realize that she'd been wrong this whole time. When she got back to Tokyo though, she would make things right, Ranma was now her brother. Akane now practically her sister by rites of tribal adoption. The tribes magic had accepted both of them, perhaps even it was the tribal magic that helped open her eyes. She'd been obsessed with the wrong person. The most confusing problem she had to deal with, was that more than anything else in the world, she missed Moose.

* * *

><p>The next morning Akane woke up to a gentle knock on her door, she groaned as she sat up. <em>The sun isn't even up yet!<em>

Grumbling she got out of bed and walked to the door, her eyes softened slightly when she saw it was Ranma. He was fully dressed and looked ready to go for the day.

"What is it Ranma?" she asked yawning "How early is it?"

"This is the time Kasumi normally get's up to cook breakfast at," Ranma said with a smile, "this morning you'll be doing it."

Her eyes widened, "Is this a joke?"

"Nope, come on sleepy head. I told your sister to sleep in today. I'm gonna teach you to cook."

"How," she drawled tiredly, "do you plan to do that?"

"Put on your gi and meet me in the kitchen in five minutes." he said this in his _Sensei _voice.

Five minutes later they were in the kitchen, Ranma standing in the doorway motioned for her to begin.

She started moving around the kitchen grabbing pots and pans.

"Stop!"

She looked at him, eyes blazing with a moment of anger which she quickly stamped down.

"Do you know what you're making yet?"

She looked at the random assortment of pots and pans she grabbed and blushed.

"Let's try a western meal today, pancakes and omelettes." Ranma suggested.

"Mmm, okay!" Akane said enthusiastically, she loved pancakes.

Ranma made her do things very slowly, correcting her and having her take her time and line up her ingredients. She felt like a beginner learning a first kata, when she voiced this Ranma had encouraged the thought.

"Everything in life is martial arts." He said as he smiled at her.

Breakfast was later than usual, Kasumi and Ranma both kept it a secret who had cooked. But everyone enjoyed the meal, the pancakes were light and fluffy and the omelettes tasted wonderful, with ham, cheese, bell peppers, onion and tomato cooked into them. And when they finally revealed the secret and everyone complimented Akane on the wonderful meal, she smiled proudly with tears in her eyes. And she felt for the first time in a long time, like she could learn to be a good cook someday.

* * *

><p>For the Tendo family the next couple of days flew by. Ranma and Akane had sat with the family and explained the plan to go train. They packed their bags and left with Cologne on a train headed to where only Cologne knew for now.<p>

As the train pulled away from Nerima Akane and Ranma enjoyed each others company, talking sweetly to one another occasionally sneaking kisses when they thought Cologne wasn't looking.

Cologne finally informed them they were headed to a monastery owned by their tribe. They would be learning many styles there in the short time, including wing chun, Wushu, and a large variety of moves from the tribal martial arts.

* * *

><p>Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. I will try to update soon.. Please R&amp;R :)<p> 


	4. Training and Magic

**Disclaimer - I own nothing, Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Naruto and co. belong to Masashi Kishimoto, other references/side characters include characters owned by Warner Brothers, George Lucas, various anime producers and others I will reveal when they become more relevant. :)**

Thanks again for the reviews, I do appreciate it.

I know now what I wanna do with this story. It's going to start getting more and more AU as I go along. I want Ranma and the gang to have to use their hard earned skills, and push them to the next level. To do this I plan on borrowing characters from other series that I enjoy, such as Keniichi or Naruto. I also have a few real life historical characters referenced. The human sacrifice spell that I described in the last chapter is one of many the group in question has been doing, and the changes they reap with their magics will become clear very soon.

I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and with no further ado..

* * *

><p>"Years ago," Cologne said as they ran through the forest "I came to do my own training in Japan, knowing there was a lot of knowledge I could garner here. I met a few clans of ninja." She hopped to the top of a tree and stopped, Ranma and Akane followed and were now at the highest point of the vast forest they were in. They could see for miles all around them, mountains rising to the east and vast expanses of trees as far as the eye could see. In the midst of the trees stood a single building tall and wide. To the north there appeared to be a village, but they couldn't see it well even from their high spot.<p>

"Our monastery is that building right there, we will pass most of the month training there. Although I would like to stop at the village and visit some old friends at some point." With that said she jumped from the tree, bouncing off another going towards the tall, wide building. Akane and Ranma followed both saying nothing, enjoying the view they had, the peace and the company.

* * *

><p>The building was even bigger than it had appeared from their vantage point, it took them another two hours to arrive at the building, after making their way down the mountain, and by the time they had arrived it was raining a light drizzle. An old woman and two young women strolled up to the building in the middle of the deep woods.<p>

Cologne grabbed the over-sized door knocker and knocked three times. "Chukaku! It's me, Cologne!"

A few minutes later the door opened up and a very old looking man with a bald head was looking at them. "Cologne, from the Amazons?" He glanced at her, "Ah it is you my friend" He said as they embraced each other warmly.

Over the next few hours they met the rest of the monks at the monastery, explained Ranma's curse, and transformed him back. There were monks from all sorts of places including two philosophers from Cologne's (their) tribe.

After meeting the rest of the monastery they were taken to the training grounds, Ranma and Akane's eyes widened in delight as they took it all in. There was a gazebo on the right side of the field with ten mook jong placed within for training. There was another gazebo filled with punching bags, there was what appeared to be sheets and random cloths hung out to dry with sticks laying around in a circle around the area. There was a large clearing for practicing katas and a small weight room. What appeared to be an obstacle course led into the jungle, and there were weapons of all sorts everywhere.

The old man smiled at them, pleased by how happy the training grounds he'd worked so hard on made them. "My grandson Chiriku will be down here soon to test your skills."

Ranma bowed to the old man remembering the respect Cologne had drilled into them on the train ride "Hai sensei," he turned to Akane "hey tomboy, we should probably get warmed up. Bet I can run the obstacle course faster than you can."

"You wish!" Akane shouted back at him, as she'd started running from the moment he'd said tomboy.

"Hey that's cheating!" he called after her starting to run.

"Our style is called Anything Goes!" She laughed as she hopped swiftly from pole to pole.

Cologne and Chukaku watched them go, chuckling at their energy. "They will be a pleasure to train," the old man said "most can only wish for students so willing to train."

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later they returned to the clearing. Chukaku stood with several other monks and Cologne on one side of the clearing. A young man stood in the center.<p>

"Akane should go first." Cologne shouted out to the two of them.

After sharing a brief kiss, Akane strode to the center of the circle and stood facing the young man.

He bowed to her, "I apologize in advance for any pain I inflict on you."

From the side someone shouted "Begin!"

Akane focused on her Ki for a moment as the bald boy charged towards her, at the last moment she jumped out of the way, countering with a punch perfectly aimed.

Except he wasn't there, his eyes widening slightly in surprise, he had to spin out of the way of the fist and jumped back a few paces.

"I underestimated you." He said sincerely.

"I'm a martial artist too!" Akane said as she charged at him, now going onto the offensive. After blocking a few of her attacks the Chiriku grinned. If the girl was this tough he couldn't wait to fight her fiance whom elder Cologne had explained was even stronger.

He now stood in a stance with his feet shoulder width apart, his right hand palm down was extended towards the ground in front of his body, the other in front of his face had two fingers raised. As Akane attacked he deflected her attacks with the minimum movement possible, his eyes closed and seemingly mumbling a prayer under his breath. As Akane tried to kick him with her strongest kick he unleashed his attack and an Ki manifested fist punched her in the stomach, taking the wind completely from her. She was just able to retain her consciousness.

He knelt next to her head, "Your dedication and strength in your art is strong young one. There is no shame in your defeat."

He stood up now ready to face Ranma as Chukaku helped Akane limp away from the field.

* * *

><p>Ranma and Chiriku stood facing each other, both men eager to fight.<p>

Ranma had been mad for a moment when Akane had been hurt, but quickly let that pass with the realization that this was after all part of martial arts training.

Ranma settled into his normal relaxed stance, for a few moments both opponents just stared at each other gauging one another's capabilities. After a few minutes of assessment both charged at the same time, both seeming to disappear as they met in the middle. All the masters of course could see every detail of what was happening and were using it to assess Ranma's skills. Chiriku had been asked to hold back before the fight and was still doing so, if only just a little.

Chiriku was just slightly jealous. Here was a man who would surpass him and most he knew in martial arts skills. The young man was already very far, and with the people the elder would be introducing him to and getting him trained by, he would probably be one of the best martial artists in the world one day.

Ranma tried, without success, to anger the young monk by saying all sorts of blasphemous things. To which the young monk had only smiled in response.

Ranma had tried the Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken technique on him, but he'd seemingly vanished at the last moment. The truth making itself known to Ranma too late as he felt a sharp impact on the back of his head. Ranma shot across the field colliding hard into a tree. After pulling himself off the tree he attacked again, the monk calmly deflecting his attacks. Ranma didn't see it, but he could feel the young monk pushing pressure points when he deflected the attacks. Slowing Ranma's body down more and more by blocking off Ki access points.

Falling back on the Umi-Sen-Ken Ranma vanished from sight. The monk stood still in the center of the clearing waiting..

A moment later Ranma appeared in front of the monk about to attack as the monks Ki again manifested, this time into many fists knocking Ranma into the air and punching him around and around till he finally slipped out of consciousness.

* * *

><p>After Ranma had come to they were treated to a large meal. Chiriku had been apologetic to both teens who laughed off his apologies and asked him questions about his techniques, both very intrigued at what they had seen. Ranma actually happy to find himself completely outclassed, knowing there was so much more to learn.<p>

Both were elated with the idea they'd be learning so much. They spent the last hour before going to bed teaching each other about their respective styles in Anything Goes, which Cologne informed them they were to do every night from here on out.

A blue haired man with closed eyes and a smile woke them both very early and informed them they were to come out to the training yard. The man introduced himself as Chichiri and they soon noticed that the closed eyes and smile were on a mask which he was wearing over his face. He explained today he would be running a few tests and teaching them about magic.

An hour later, after a very confusing conversation the man left, explaining the physical training would begin soon. The first monks to train them in the morning were the Amazons who put both Ranma and Akane back into training from the basics. Both were now running through the forest dragging a tire behind them with and old Amazon monk on top of the tire holding whips and pushing the teens to faster speeds. Not visible were the two hundred pounds worth of weights strapped around each teens legs under their clothing. A cocky man with a bowl cut had handed them to the teens earlier that morning telling them that from now on they were not to take the weights off under any circumstances unless he, or one of the other trainers said so. Or if they were faced with overwhelming numbers of enemies.

Both had found the experience to be very weird, but under the watchful gaze of Cologne and the rest of the elders said nothing.

After the excruciating run through the forest they were informed by Noodle and Broth that they hadn't gone fast enough and would be expected to go even faster in tomorrow when it was their turn for training again. Noodle and Broth took the teens through many more exercises, mostly routine, with added horrifying elements for the next two hours before the teens were finally allowed to go find breakfast.

"Honestly," Ranma huffed as he ate some miso soup, "sit-ups over a moat full of piranhas. Pops must have put them up to this."

He glared at a piece of sausage for a moment as if daring it to say anything before he picked it up with his chopsticks and tossed it into the air catching it and eating it quickly.

Akane, still embarrassed by a fall she'd taken mumbled, "Who the hell builds a salmon ladder on a windmill?"

* * *

><p>Chiriku and Chukaku trained them for the next four hours, although their training was mainly in communicating with Ki.<p>

After that they trained with a Wing Chun master who asked Ranma and Akane to attack him at the same time. Within seconds both had been defeated by deceptively simple moves. The man took them through the basics of wing chun. Teaching them all the moves of the Siu Lim Tao one by one, explaining the importance behind every posture and gesture and movement. He made them vow that they would practice the Siu Lim Tao at least once a day from now on, even when they left this place. They both promised and he went on with the lesson teaching them how to spar with the sticky hands techniques. He explained that in sticky hands sparring no real fighting force needs to be exerted since it's a practice on skill.

Akane was really happy for the Wing Chun lessons and focused in absolutely. Here was one form of martial art Ranma didn't have a big leg up on her with, they were basically both at the same point, and she enjoyed the idea of both of them learning, and mastering this art together.

Next they learned from a Wushu master for an hour before getting to eat lunch, and after a two hour break they studied ninjitsu from the guy with a bowl cut and his student who had a matching bull cut. They would train with Cologne before dinner and finally trained each other in the evening before going to sleep. And so progressed the next three weeks, the only difference in training would be sometimes at midnight or later in the night they'd get a surprise attack from any of their masters which they soon learned to be alert for.

* * *

><p>In Nerima Nodoka sat with Soun and Genma at the Tendo table drinking tea.<p>

"There's been a change." she said looking seriously at the men. She took off her bundle from her back, unwrapped the katana and tied the sheath to her belt.

"Something is happening, and I don't know what. But everyone needs to be prepared. I will take care of the house and the girls. I want you two to go training again.

Both men had tried to argue for a while, but Nodoka wasn't standing for it. She'd soon made them agree, she even had a trainer in mind who she was sending them to who she'd already spoken to. They were not to come back for six months.

_That ought to give those two enough time away _she thought, _to train and get strong enough to come back and train others in the dojo as responsible men. Hopefully we will all be ready for whatever changes are coming. _She felt uneasy as if something were about to happen soon, but she didn't know what.

She vowed to herself that she would prepare Kasumi and Nabiki, as the two men began their preparations she summoned the girls into the dojo to inform them of their new training schedule with her.

* * *

><p>Unknown to Ranma and Akane, Mousse had tried to follow them to the training. Cologne had known, and in a moment, when his glasses had momentarily fallen from his face, she'd dropped a map on the ground and wished him luck as she led Ranma and Akane in a different direction.<p>

Mousse found the map later when he found the spot he'd last seen them, and after studying the map he'd pulled out a compass and started following it.

After a few hours following the map he found a shrine.

"Oi!" A woman's voice called out, he looked up and standing atop the shrine was a busty woman wearing a pink gi, a mouse poked it's head out from between her large breasts.

"Are you Moose?" she asked, the mouse held up a small picture of a Moose in a lake.

"No it's Mousse!" he replied

"That's the one," she said to her mouse, it nodded it's head and hopped out of her shirt, it sat on the shrine to watch.

She jumped down and got into a battle stance across from Mousse. "Well, let's see what you got."

In a few minutes she'd struck him down, explaining the flaws in all his weapon usage.

"You use such a large barrage of weapons, call yourself a master and have barely any mastery over any!" With that said she finished him off using a wooden spoon.

Over the next hour she explained that Cologne had contacted her a few weeks ago requesting training for the blind boy. Mousse spend the next month training with the woman who introduced herself as Shigure.

* * *

><p>Both Nabiki and Kasumi had protested initially to the thought of training in martial arts again. But Nodoka had spoken to them on length and explained several things to them that eventually changed their minds.<p>

"Nabiki?"

"Yes aunty?" She asked, as she got another cup of tea.

"I need you to do me a favor, no more pictures of my son and his fiancee. And no more selling them out."

Nabiki wanted to argue about the lost revenue, but had already been thinking about laying off Ranma and Akane lately anyway. Plus she wasn't about to argue with a mother wearing a sword. She sighed, "Yes aunty."

"That's a good girl. Are you still dating that man who speaks in horrible Shakespearian?"

Nabiki was surprised by the question, "You mean Kunu?"

"Yes," said Nodoka, thinking back on the potential she could see the boy had. "Bring him to train with you."

Nabiki was confused by this but agreed.

Nodoka could see that Nabiki was smart, and was trying to put the pieces together.

"Something is going to happen, to Nerima, possibly to the entire world." Nodoka confided in Nabiki "We are preparing for war."

Nabiki didn't respond, she grabbed a bottle of boubon she'd gotten in exchange for information a few years back, and two glasses.

"I have the feeling," said Nabiki as she poured them each a glass, "That this is going to be one of _those_ conversations."

The women stayed up late that night, talking and planning for any circumstances.

* * *

><p>Some spells are never meant to be cast. Indeed they should never have been thought of in the first place.<p>

The man who created the spell which was used on that hot summer day in Tokyo had tried to destroy it upon realizing what he'd just created.

But, some things are evil. And evil often has a mind of it's own, it betrayed it's own creator, leaving him to burn in the fires he was going to toss the spell into. Written on a scroll it let itself drift in the wind, till an old man found it. The man without even reading the thing had stored it in his library, telling himself he would one day read the scroll, for to him all things written were knowledge, and knowledge is always to be treasured.

An unexpected event happened, and an earthquake struck the library burying the old man and the scroll beneath the earth. And things that should have been destroyed, were forgotten.

The old man, even with his love of books, knowledge and all things written, would have destroyed the scroll had he read what was written in it.

So the scroll remained, hidden, waiting for 400 years for the right person.

The young man who'd picked up the scroll was a weakling. A simple minded weakling with delusions of grandeur. In other words, the perfect host. For in a way the spell was a parasite. The boy had made his first sacrifice following all the instructions written on the book. He'd stolen a beloved pet of a young child who lived down the street. He'd watched carefully for hours before making his move, the scroll had said that a loving attachment was important for the potency of the spell.

So watch he did, making sure the connection of the boy to his dog was one of real love. When the boy had gone to sleep that night, the would be sorcerer sneaked over the privacy fence and kidnapped the dog, using a strong chemical on a rag to knock it out. He'd carefully drawn a full pentagram and marked the kanji in the appropriate spots. He'd carved his desire into the animals flesh, ignoring it's whimpers and it's cries. When he'd finally slit the poor animals throat and put it out of it's misery his eyes were completely dead. To an extent the spell took possession of his mind, it encouraged him to add to the spell. It gave him power and guided him to find a group of followers. Eventually the would be sorcerer could see a manifestation of the spirit of the spell. He spoke with it when he was alone and sometimes in harsh whispers even when his followers were with him.

They off course did not question his sanity. They could not see the manifestation as he did, but there was a shadow cast from the spot the spirit would have been that they could all see clearly. And it only appeared when their leader was near, and it scared them even more than the ruthlessness of their leader did.

They sat in a circle now, holding hands and chanting a chant over and over as their leader stood in the center of the circle speaking his own words over theirs, another victim gasping their last breath under his blade. As the spell took effect a light burst from the room, and the light rippled out from the room through the building. Through the city, the country and eventually the whole world. Everyone saw a brief flash, and the world changed, though nobody could actually note the change. They didn't notice that the cars around the world all changed, advancing in some ways, and regressing in others. What they would have noticed, was that there were no longer any guns in existence. The reason people didn't notice was because guns had never been invented in the first place.

It is important to point out that the spell was not created to eliminate guns or to alter technology. The purpose of the spells cast had been to change the world completely. One of the particular spells cast, due to the spell altering itself, had been one to preserve the age of the samurai, combined with a desire for Japan to be a top world power it destroyed the main thing that had caused the samurai to fall.

Due to all this nobody noticed that in place of their guns were different weapons, mainly swords, bows and new types of weapons not seen before. Although now people knew what they were, how to use them and how to make them.

The leader smiled as he stepped out of his house into the warm Tokyo weather, he saw a few people walking down the streets, more importantly he saw one of his goals accomplished. People proudly wearing katanas at their hips. In a harsh whisper he said "Our plans are coming to fruition my friend." The evil spirit smiled at him.

The evil spirit went back into the house as the young man walked away, allowing himself to slip back into the mask he wore for his daily activities. Seeing a familiar face from school walking towards him he turned around and started hammering a voodoo doll into a tree

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><p>I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Please R&amp;R<p> 


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